Plymouth Argyle: Season 2, Feb — Mar 2013

Hello friends and welcome back to the latest episode of my Football Manager Story. Last time we saw Plymouth playing beyond expectations and about to compete in a crucial FA Cup match….

February 2013

FA Cup Fourth Round

It was an enthralling encounter that unfolded as we took on Cardiff City in front of almost 17,000 fans at Home Park. After a sustained period of pressure it was William Ekong who headed in the opening goal with 24 minutes on the clock. Our joy was short lived as Cardiff equalized just two minutes later from a long range effort. We didn’t drop our heads and played intelligently up until half time though Eccleston missed a couple of great chances. He made up for that though early in the second half with a typical breakaway and low drive into the net after Vellios had flicked the ball onto him from the centre circle. With our tails up we went searching for a third but Cardiff weren’t about to concede another and formed a formidable defence. Their intrusions into our half finally paid off with a goal from a corner to make it 2-2 in the 69th minute then moments later Simon Walton went agonizingly close with a dipping shot from just outside the box. In the end it finished 2-2 so we have a difficult replay ahead of us.

Following our cup game we comfortably beat Rochdale at home in the league but then lost away to Tranmere as again I saved the First Eleven for the cup replay. We should have won this game but gave away two stupid penalties.

FA Cup Fourth Round Replay

We picked up where we left of last time in this cup tie with Cardiff, as the home side took the lead after just 3 minutes. Eccleston tucked in the equalizer from a Luke Daley cross some 20 minutes later but yet another long shot gave Cardiff the lead once more before the half hour. A through ball by Walton fashioned the equalizer for Vellios as he muscled off his defender before striking home. In the second half against the run of play Daley found Eccleston once more and he swept the ball home to put us in front. Cardiff though used their LONG THROW weapon and quickly made it 3-3 and in the 77th minute ended our brave cup run with the winning goal and so they will face Watford at home who knocked out Man City of all teams.

With any dreams of Wembley now over we needed to keep our morale up and we did just that with a fine win at home to Millwall which saw Vellios and Eccleston partner up to create a superb opening goal. However both strikers were upstaged by Dutch youngster William Ekong who bagged himself two goals, both from set pieces to get us back to winning ways.

We stayed at home — taking on Orient to play our game in hand over league leaders Huddersfield. MR Marc Pelosi opened the scoring after 5 minutes being teed up by a delicate pass from Vellios. A mistake by left back Luke Garbutt allowed the equalizer for Orient but a cracking effort from 25 yards (about time we had one) by loanee Conor Coady restored the lead by the half time whistle. We dominated the second period but stupidly gave away a goal to bring Orient back into the game but when a draw seemed on the cards Coady slipped the ball into the box and substitute Odelusi returning from injury steered the ball home for the winning goal!

Following the win over Orient I received my first job offer from Swansea which I turned down.

So as the month ended the table was looking like this.

March 2013

Before our first game of the month the financial report was released and having made a profit of over £500,000 last month we broke the £2,000,000 mark for the first time.

It took a stern half time talk and a superb strike on the half volley by Kaby to wake the team up away to Gillingham which we finally came out of the winners thanks to a late winning goal by Vellios.

We received our first real injury set back of the season as left back Jeremy Helan was injured in training and will be out for up to six weeks. I’m thankful that I picked up Luke Garbutt on loan now.

Our three game win streak came to an end with a rubbish performance at Meadow Lane with Notts County taking all three points from an early first half goal and Garbutt putting in a terrible performance at left back!

A win was needed and it was a win we got at Home Park with a dominant display over visitors Scunthorpe. Kaby once again came up with a beautiful strike from distance after 10 minutes. A corner kick provided the base for the second goal as Ekong headed the ball back across the box for Eccleston to steer into the net. Being 2-0 up after just 22 minutes we should have added a few more goals but I was happy with the three points to keep the pressure on Huddersfield.

Next up was away at to 22nd place Shrewsbury and after a frantic opening 10 minutes at either end it was Ekong who opened the scoring with another headed in corner kick. A killer long ball by left back Jamie Richards (Garbutt dropped) was chased down by Eccleston whose cross found the head of Vellios to make in 2-0 after 17 minutes. Another corner, another Ekong header, but this one was turned into the net by fellow CD Soukouna to make it 3-1, Shrewsbury having pulled one back in between. Relentless second half pressure final paid off as Ekong got his second of the game for goal number four and another valuable three points.

In front of almost 15,000 fans it was time for our top of the table clash with Huddersfield. We got off to a thrilling start as MR Luke Daley was left totally unmarked for an easy tap in goal off a Bhasera cross with just 4 minutes gone. Huddersfield equalized from a set piece, the very thing we had trained on all week and ironically took the lead just after the hour mark the same way. Eccleston and Vellios both missed open goals before Huddersfield struck their third goal. Daley got his second 10 minutes from time to throw us a life line and in the dying seconds Vellios missed another open goal throwing away the chance to rescue a point.

The final game of the month was away to Bournemouth, whom having been reduced to ten men early the game formed an “impenetrable wall” that we could not break down. This led to a frustrating afternoon and a 0-0 result.

Results Summary:

League Table:

Unless Huddersfield totally slip up I think they have the title in the bag. My biggest concern now is keeping ahead of Colchester as they have narrowed the gap thanks to some splendid form lately.

Remaining Fixtures:

Looking ahead we have a very difficult ending to the season as five of those games all feature teams who could have a shot at the play-offs and I feel we will need to win all seven games to secure automatic promotion.

Super Sevens:

18 year old William Ekong leads the way in my Super Sevens table and quite rightly so. The young central defender has been absolutely brilliant these laste couple of months.

Well that completes this update and I’m sure it won’t be too long before the Season Finale report will be up also. I’m not usually one for providing recommendations but it may be worth checking out William Ekong in your own saved games as I think he’s just terrific.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this and stay safe!